Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying with respect to the transitional items that this government will be addressing, I certainly hope that the new Assembly prepares itself by seeking the mandate to do so from its electors and by surrounding itself with the officials and plans that it will need to follow through.
I want to be clear about one thing, Mr. Speaker, and I think it is critically important. Even though the future government will be looking at the hard economic times we are facing, it should not lessen our ability as a Legislative Assembly to meet the basic human and social needs of constituents who are in need. We continually remember that we are here to strive for constituents who are at a disadvantage and have a difficult time in everyday life. It is important and critical that these social needs are met, even though hard financial times are going to be faced. I think that the new government will need to take a new approach to bringing forward supplementary appropriations. The new Minister will need to make every effort to keep the amounts of supplementary funding to a minimum.
Mr. Speaker, as we move to constitutional development, I believe that it is going to be one of the items taking the energy from many people in the future. Many Members agree that the matter of western constitutional development can't help but become a major priority for the next government. The new government is going to need to drive its bureaucracy to make up for lost time in planning for the division of the Northwest Territories.
April 1999 is less than four years away, Mr. Speaker. I know that our current government has been planning for division. I wanted to give Mr. Alvarez and his officials in the Cabinet Secretariat credit for what I would call "kick-starting" the process. When you really think about it, Mr. Speaker, how far along are we in comparison to what NIC is doing and in comparison to what the eastern Arctic is doing in preparing for Nunavut? We will be breaking new ground; splitting assets and liabilities; moving person years; and, building two new public service structures. The new Legislative Assembly is going to need to ensure that support is in place for the system and processes we will need to complete our planning and implementation strategy for division. If it isn't, the feds are simply going to take us to the cleaners. When the time comes to open the doors in Nunavut, nothing will be in place.
Mr. Speaker, we all have a stake in the process of division, not just honourable Members from constituencies in Nunavut, but after April 1999, the north will no longer be the same. We need to plan and to work toward an effective government-building process. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, I think this has sunk in some of our public servants. There still seems to be some scepticism that things are really going to change; that for years from now, there will be two bureaucracies, two governments and two territories. It is going to affect the work that every member of our public service will be doing after that. Nunavut will be a reality; the new territory will be a reality. I believe that public servants really have to get used to that concept. Mr. Speaker, getting used to that concept will mean developing not only the processes, systems and organizational charts that are needed to make division take place, but it also means changing attitudes at all levels.
The new Legislative Assembly will need to realize that in the west, as well as in Nunavut, there will be a new set of expectations as to how government will be conducted. Everyone has been willing to give lip-service to the notions about several orders of government that were so thoughtfully outlined in the Bourque Commission report. Some Members, especially the Cabinet, always are ready to talk about strengthening community government; to see a strength at two levels, like the Beatty report talked about. You know, Mr. Speaker, and this is why I referred to lip-service, last Friday I was appalled that when the same Cabinet led an assault on the motion that my colleague from Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine, brought forward respecting the invitations of western aboriginal leaders to appear in committee of the whole; I found it amazing that this request was denied. Mr. Speaker, I believe strongly that this was a legitimate request. These are the leaders of claimant organizations and regional groups. They are the ones in which the hopes for aboriginal self-government lie for our future. I believe, at least for those honourable Members who voted to defeat the motion, it looked like a slap in the face for the western leaders. I don't think it was proper for us to conduct ourselves in that manner.
Mr. Speaker, contrary to some of the comments that have been made on this issue, it isn't extraordinary to have representatives up here before committee of the whole. During my time in this House, we have had representatives from women's organizations here to comment on Mr. Kakfwi's Justice House Report. I recall, when I was a Minister, having the suicidologist from Alberta appear before committee of the whole because we were concerned about the high rate of suicide in the territories.
Many times, we have had representatives of both Inuit and the Dene/Metis organizations appear to share their views on boundary issues and on constitutional matters. Yet, this time, when the western Arctic aboriginal leaders wanted to meet with this Assembly for a discussion, they were given the option of meeting only in camera with a portion of the Members of the House. Mr. Speaker, how many times, when you were a Member, did you remind your honourable colleagues that this isn't the way aboriginal leadership is exercised? Our tradition is not to deal with important issues behind closed doors; to deal with only a part of the whole group. For centuries, our leadership has addressed important matters out in the open and as part of the holistic political process that has seemed to make our culture so strong because we have always dealt with things out in the open.
Mr. Speaker, defeating Friday's motion was a very bad precedent. With the direction being discussed in our western constitutional development, we are going to see more sharing of responsibilities with other orders of government, and many northerners believe that this is a good thing. But how can we work towards this sharing when we slam the door before they even get through it to share?
My honourable colleague from Yellowknife Frame Lake had made a good point, Mr. Speaker. There may come a time in the future as we prepare for division of the territories and a new government in the western Arctic, that representatives of other groups -- perhaps from tax-based municipalities, from women's groups or even from Inuit organizations -- want to meet with us. Are we going to continue to follow with this precedent? Are we going to tell them that we will only grant them an audience if they meet with us behind closed doors? I believe that is something serious to think about, because if you want to, in preparing for the transition to a new government, Mr. Speaker, I would hope that we can build some expectation for a more cooperative, open relationship between this House and other orders of government in the Northwest Territories.
I would strongly recommend that the government's transition document should mention this and that it should set the stage for the establishment of another body, similar to the Special Joint Committee on Division. This time, though, the special joint committee should be resourced by staff who understand the north and are in tune with the issues that are important for our people.
Constitutional development, of course, also includes looking beyond our own borders in the territories. I have been increasingly concerned about this government's failure to develop a position, particularly on the Quebec question. Nothing has really been said, and it concerns northerners. I know some northerners in my riding have expressed this to me. As my honourable colleague for Yellowknife North has pointed out, it is too simplistic to think that we will not be drawn into the impending debate on the sovereignty referendum. I believe that the development of a firm position on this should be one of the priorities undertaken by the new government.
Mr. Speaker, there is going to be a lot of work in the next Legislative Assembly, the 13th Legislative Assembly, regarding our whole process of division.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to speak with respect to the evolution of the Legislative Assembly. I think that some of the factors I've been discussing are at least in part due to changes that have been taking place in this Assembly.
I believe that when we moved into this wonderful building, we also underwent a change in our whole approach. I can recall quite vividly, being a Member in the old Assembly, the approachable atmosphere in our House. It was so easy for people from our communities, for aboriginal leaders, for the media or for people off the street to come in and mingle with Members outside the Chamber because we were right in downtown Yellowknife. Now we are kind of out of the way where they have to make a point of wanting to come here, and they sometimes feel they have to come for a specific reason in order to come here.
With our new Assembly building, we certainly recognize, Mr. Speaker, that those days are long gone. There has been a change in the spirit of this Legislature, with visitors now checking in to receive their official badges and with a whole new formality to the way this House operates. I recognized the need for it when you had to stop the proceedings of the House last week when we were interrupted; but, at the same time, to quite a degree I am somewhat saddened by the transition where you don't have the openness of the Assembly that people can come by and see fairly easily.
I certainly think sometimes that these new surroundings are great. They are wonderful. They get us away from all the hustle and bustle of downtown Yellowknife. But in some respects, the new surroundings do set a somewhat more distant tone. At times, I guess, even as a Member I feel that we've become sophisticated with regard to addressing the people we serve; and we shouldn't be, because if it wasn't for the people who elected us and want us to serve them, then we would not be here.
I certainly hope that Members of the new Assembly will place a priority on talking and thinking about some of the larger principles of the way our democratic system is supposed to operate. I also want to make some comments on this, Mr. Speaker.
When you think back many years, the native people have always operated by consensus. We have always somehow come to some level of agreement, no matter how many times it took to discuss an issue. Until recently, actually, the Dene Nation and stuff didn't accept things like motions all of a sudden. They discussed an issue over and over. I remember going to their assemblies and seeing how their process worked. They took many issues and discussed them over and over and then took a position, if they felt comfortable.
I know that there is no such thing as democracy in many countries, and in many countries for many years, things were settled with violence. They were settled through wars. They were settled in violent fashions. As we have become more sophisticated, we moved away from that, and we have developed a system we call democracy.
There are some flaws in a democratic system, all right. There are some areas in democracy that really allow for manipulation, to the point where it becomes undemocratic; and I think that is really unfortunate, because the more manipulative the system gets, the more undemocratic it gets. Then it forgets about its purpose and what it's here to serve. People's personal goals get in to what you are basically supposed to try to achieve. Elected Members are supposed to be there to be representing people on the people's wishes.
So I really think that somewhere, when we look at democracy, we have to look at finding a way, and I don't know if party politics might be the answer to it. I don't believe so, but we certainly have to find a way from allowing less manipulation in a democratic system, because right now there is a lot of manipulation in the democratic system. I recognize that there is a lot in this system of government.
Mr. Speaker, you know that I am not one to be manipulated, and people are aware of that. It seems like that because of the fact that I don't do things the way people want me to. I want to speak my mind. I want to speak about what my constituents want me to say. I want to express concerns on behalf of my constituents, but that may not coincide with government or may not coincide with other areas.
Some people may feel that I am not being cooperative, and I know that is certainly not my intention. But, at the same time,
if you're not cooperative, let me tell you, they try to find ways to punish -- I guess that's the word -- you.